When Pete Carroll was the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, several former players would return to give a bit of input to the current players during OTAs and minicamp. Those same players sometimes appeared at training camp, too.
But this made sense because Carroll's attitude (and general manager John Schneider, too, to be fair) was to have an open-door policy no matter if a player was currently under contract or not. After safety Kam Chancellor was forced to retire with a neck injury, for instance, it wasn't as if he was never going to be allowed back at the VMAC.
But Carroll has been gone for a year and a half now, and the former players do not owe the new regime any kind of allegiance. While a player such as Michael Bennett coming back to say a few words at camp is great, would he do that because he was a Seahawk or a Pete Carroll guy?
Seahawks' Mike Macdonald good with having icons such as Richard Sherman around
As it turns out, Legion of Boom legend Richard Sherman is a Seahawks guy, but he also clearly has a good enough relationship still with Schneider and new head coach Mike Macdonald. If Sherman didn't feel comfortable around Macdonald, or if he felt unwanted, he wouldn't appear in Seattle's camp.
But at the team's 2025 minicamp, there was Sherman on the field, seen having several conversations, including a long one with Schneider. Several players were upset with some of the moves that Macdonald and Schneider made soon after the new head coach was hired.
— Gregg Bell (@gbellseattle) June 11, 2025
One of these was photos of some of the plays and players from the 2010s teams being removed from the VMAC. It seemed to some that Macdonald was trying to erase Carroll's highly successful era and make his own mark. This wasn't the case, however.
Instead, the Seahawks replaced those photos with pictures of every player who had ever played for the team. It was more of a greater view than a narrow view of the Carroll years. Sherman could have still held some animosity about the LOB days being dismissed for less successful times, but he clearly doesn't.
Perhaps he has spoken with Macdonald enough to understand the new head coach is trying to make people forget the previous head coach, and that Macdonald wants what is best for the Seahawks organization.
That proves two things. One is that Richard Sherman feels allegiance to the team and not one coach. The other is that Mike Macdonald understands the importance of letting Seahawks icons back into the team's confines, even though there is a new reign.
